Strings
by Elenoria Wyvern
Summary: This is from Dark Hunter Books By Sherrlyn Kenyon. Acheron Finds love. Can he keep it? RATED M FOR FUTURE LEMONS! Or not Final chapter up. Sequal?
1. A Visit From Aphrodite

The handsome man looked at the Red Head dubiously as she stood poubting. as soon as her uncle left her mountain he knew she would indeed through the fit of the century.

_'Immaturity thy name is Artimas'_ Acheron though as she stomped her foot, a bit like a child.

"Exactly what is this about this time Arti?" He sighed.

"It's about your way out." A voice said from behind him.

"What are you talking about Aphrodite?"

"I saved Zeus some huge trouble a century or two ago and he owed me a big faveor, and I told him to free you from Artimas." She explained.

"At what cost to me? There's always strings."

"As much as I would love to be offended at that, it's true. Although in my opinion its a much smaller string than you are used to." She took a deep breth sitting on the steps of Artimas's temple, as said red-haired goddess rushed away in anger. "You may not know this but, while almost all of my children have been male, I have had one daughter. She was human and forced to stay on earth, and I wasn't to interfere with her life, for fear of Zeus's rath. But I watched...."

Aphrodites blue eyes misted up and became distant, which got his attention. Gods were more likely to kill him on sight than to speak to him, let alone civily, but to show any emotion but contempt... that hadn't ever happened before.

Aphrodites blue eyes misted up and became distant, which got his attention. Gods were more likely to kill him on sight than to speak to him, let alone civily, but to show any emotion but contempt... that hadn't ever happened before.

"She was hurt so many times by her father. Everytime he...touched her she broke and everytime he told her that she was 'his little girl' she thought it was going to get better. It never did. And then, as she got older and fell in love....she was hurt again when her fiance died. She was 14. And, a good while later, she fell in love again. He died to and she's never gotten over him, though he's gone. His body, maybe not. But he's not the same person. She knows and she doesn't care."

Ash's heart throbed painfuly. He wanted to be loved like that. He always had. But he had thought he had suppressed the pain of it long ago. But then again, he had also rsigned himself to being bonded to Artimas forever, hadn't he?

"What do you want me to do about that?"

"You can't do anything about the past. She's immortal now and the bad thing about that is, that you have to live with the memories, good and bad. I just told you what you'd need to know. Something bad is about to happen to her. A mother feels these things. And I can't stand to see her hurt again. It's bad enough she hates me, and I'm totally helpless to help her. I won't let her be hurt again. I want you to protect her. I don't care how, as long as she's happy."

"What do you want me to do about that?"

"You can't do anything about the past. She's immortal now and the bad thing about that is, that you have to live with the memories, good and bad. I just told you what you'd need to know. Something bad is about to happen to her. A mother feels these things. And I can't stand to see her hurt again. It's bad enough she hates me, and I'm totally helpless to help her. I won't let her be hurt again. I want you to protect her. I don't care how, as long as she's happy."

"Will she know why I'm there?"

"Yes, though it will be hermis who tells her, he owes me as well. She lives on an island, which is half hers. She rarely ever leaves. Of course others live there, but she doesn't go out of her way to speak to them."

He thought for a moment. "Fine," he sighed, "I'll do it."

Artimas's scream was heard for miles.


	2. A New Place, An Old Painting

CHAPTER 2

Top of Form 1

Livia Kyanen was by the shore. She liked it there, and sometimes she liked just lay in the sand and let the waves wash over her. But not tonight. She was much to riled up to be that peaceful.

'If I Never Saw Your Face Again' buy Maroon 5 blared from her radio as she punched and kicked the hell out of her punching bag. She stopped, walked over to her large overstuffed arm chair that she kept on the beach, and snatched the towel from it wiping the back of her neck and staring up at the full moon.

"Lunch is in the basket." She deadpanned to the presence she sensed behind her.

Acheron stepped forward and gazed at her curiously. But he didn't say anything, being a smart man. She was in no mood to talk, and he had picked up on that as no man besides him could. She sighed.

"I apologize for not exactly being social. But this isn't my favorite time of the year and... well I don't need protection."

"Then shall I leave?"

She didn't hesitate. "No. I mean your free to come and go, who am I to boss you around? But I imagine anything is better than hanging out with the bitch goddess."

She didn't really care if he left or not at this point. After so much heart break, you become numb, she told herself. But she, and a small, still hoping, piece of her heart, knew better. Acheron was the only person that had kept her going 11,000 years ago and now was no different. Knowing she was able to free him from that...that bitch, made her happy. And it would be nice to have someone in the house the next morning, on Christmas.

No doubt he didn't expect a present from her but he'd get one. They sat and ate in silence, Livia's unsociable mood slowly calming. Finally, as they finished, she smiled softly at him.

"Let me show you around?"

He rose, still silent. A part of her was hurt by it, but he was still in shock, and knowing the past, excluding the years that Artemis had replaced, he had a right not to like her.

She showed him the forest surrounding her home and then hesitated, made a decision. She took him to a cabin, next to the Castle like building that was her home-their home. She opened the large oak door, which creaked. This cabin was older than the castle at several centuries old. The castle was only a single century and and much larger than the cabin, though it to was big. Even if it was one room, plus a bathroom she'd added recently. Nervously. She stepped inside. This wasn't his Christmas present, but she hoped he liked it anyway.

Acheron stepped into the cabin behind the woman, his fears seemingly confirmed. She was like Artemis. Or so he thought until she turned and smiled sheepishly at him.

"This was my studio, a long time ago, I used to paint. But I can' paint the way I used to before so, I don't anymore. I haven't been here but to dust over the years. If you would like, you can use it."

"What for?"

The beautiful blond woman shrugged at him, "Whatever you want. Just to be alone, or to throw wild parties with the locals. I don't care, its yours now."

He struggled to understand. No place had ever really been 'his'.

"Mine?" he whispered, looking over the room and failing to notice the slight smile on the angels face.

"Yes, Ash, yours. I won't enter here, or your room at the house, without asking."

"I.. don't understand," he rasped, looking back at her, his eyes confused, "why are you doing this for me?"

He really didn't get this woman, not one little thing made any sense! She fed him, she talked to him as if he was worth something, and she gave him this!

She looked at him, something a kin to sadness in her eyes, and smiled softly, a little bitterly, once again. When she spoke her voice was low and quiet and her shining lavender eyes flashed a familiar sapphire blue. Why was it so familiar? Aphrodite's were a lighter blue...

"I don't know, or care what went on anywhere, or anytime away from here, Acheron." she spoke, her voice almost quivering, but not quite, "Here you have the same rights as everyone else. Here, you don't need to pretend your someone else. Just be you, because I couldn't ask for more."

His eyes watered, though the tears stayed hidden, did she mean that? Why would this woman, someone he didn't know at all, be kinder than those he'd known most of his 11,000 years?

"Oh, and that painting in the corner, covered by a sheet? Please don't look at it."

She turned to leave but must have sensed his reluctance to do so because she looked back. "I'll show you your room in about an hour?"

He simply nodded unable to talk without betraying how touched he was. And when she left his eyes went to the painting. It was wrong of him to even think of so much as peaking at it. But he was drawn toward it. He walked to the corner, and lifted the dusty sheet. He waited and sneezed repeatedly as eons of dust fell. And then, in the dim moonlight, he gaped at it.

It couldn't be...Bottom of Form 1


	3. Cupid Visits Ash remembers a little

Chapter 3

Livia paced in the parlor. She's come back here to wait. Somehow she knew Ash had looked at the painting. No, she wasn't angry. She was afraid. Darn it! She knew she should have moved it! What would he think now? Would he hate her?

There was a bright flash of light as Eros popped into the room.

"Eros? Haven't I told you to stay the hell off of my half of the island?" she growled, irked by his presence here.

"Look Livi, I know you hate me, and I know I deserve it, but you need to listen. Artemis is not happy!"

"Good! Let the b*tc* suffer!"

"You aren't usually this morbid... But that's not my point. My point is that Apollo isn't happy about having to listen to Artemas complain.I'm not sure what he's planning but there's something."

"Thanks for the warning but I knew that. Don't you think I'm smart enough to keep an eye on them? Leave Cupid, I'll be fine."

He snarled at his nick-name, glowered at his sister, and popped back out. Livi was sad to see him go. She may act like she hated him, and in a way she did hate him for what he and her mother had done, but he was her brother, the one that had been there for her in the week between when Ash left and Archon found her. She loved him, Aphrodite.

She'd only met Julian once and she loved him. There was only one brother she would never love or trust again and she wouldn't allow herself to think of him. The truth was, life was nothing to her if she couldn't love someone. And several millennia earlier, she'd realized that, and been unable to paint anymore. After all, she could only paint people she loved, otherwise it turned out wrong.

Thunder was heard in the distance, a foreshadowing of troubles to come. _I have to get Acho out of here somehow._

Acheron didn't hear the thunder outside. All he heard was the pounding of his heart as he stared at the painting of eerily familiar scene. A scene he could feel pounding at the boundaries of his memories.

Pictured in front of him was a very happy scene. A younger version of him, at 18 or 19 was pictured. The quality of the painting was amazing, sharp and clear, though he had the distinct feeling this was an old, old, painting. But that was not what had surprised him. What surprised him was the place and the person he was with.

He was on a beach, clearly in Atlantis, with Livia. She had an arm linked with his and they were laughing. He got the distinct feeling that he had said something, to make her laugh, something about his sister, Ryssa. But he couldn't recall what. In the background seagulls soared, waves crashed. He could almost feel and smell the cool ocean breeze. There were people, looking at the pair oddly. But Livia didn't seem to care. And it was her that held his attention.

He had thought she was beautiful this evening with her hair in a bun and her loose T-shirt and jeans. It was nothing compared to this. Her long blond hair curled lightly to the middle of her back shimmering in the sunlight. A blue dress draped over her slim but strong form, held at the seems by strings a shade darker than the dress that matched her sapphire eyes. The focal point of the picture was obviously him, dressed in white, but he could not drag his eyes from the delicate features of his female companion.

Finally he gingerly picked up the painting to see a label in feminine handwriting, in Atlantian. 'Livia and Acho At the beach. Now just a memory'

He became dizzy.

"We were friends..." he whispered hoarsely. "We were close..."

He couldn't remember details, but he remembered leaving.

_"Livia, its my sister...She'll need me, I just know it. Please --"_

"Acho, I told you. The moment my father died you were free to come and ...are you sure?"

He nodded resolutely.

"Okay just do one thing for me?"

"Yes?"

"Close your eyes for a minute?"

He did so without questioning her. He trusted her.

Moments later, soft hands gently cupped his cheeks and a body swayed against his. Lips very softly brushed his, and then more firmly. But as soon as it started they stopped. He opened his eyes just in time to see Livi's hair swish as she turned and quickly walked away. 

Yes, that was right. He had left to live on Olympus with Ryssa. He'd never known why she kissed him. He'd never spoke to her again.

How had she felt? What had she been thinking? Was she glad he had left? And why couldn't he remember the rest? The questions buzzed in his head. He would have to ask her.

It was raining and so he was soaked by the time he made the treck to the castle.

Livi was waiting in the parlor.

He meant to speak to her. He meant to get answers, but when he saw her tear streaked face all that disappeared. He gasped her shoulders and pulled her to him, pressing his lips to hers. She froze, but before he could pull away she had relaxed and started to kiss back. He pulled the tie from her hair and ran his hands through it. It felt like silk. It was then that he remembered he'd dreamt of this much longer than he had entertained any though of a woman in a romantic way in his entire life. He'd wanted this since he first saw her.

_'Oh good lord' _he thought, his hands going to her waist to press her against him. _'Shes so soft, so..so very Livi...' _

He couldn't think of much of anything at that moment. But he did realize, somewhere deep in his lust clouded brain, he was going to f*ck her. No, he was going to love her all night long until neither of them could move. That was different.

But he knew, very clearly, that he was happy, and that she had been kind enough to wait all these years......


	4. Frustrating night, Loving moment

The door slammed open and Livi whipped her head toward it from where she stood pacing in the parlor. Acheron, his currently green hair plastered to his shoulders from the rain, burst in. For a moment she was dazzled by the sight of his black shirt and leather pants clinging to him before she realized two things. First, she was ogling him like some kind of eye candy, and second...

He was kissing the living daylights out of her. She hesitated only a moment before kissing back.

Her hands fisted in his hair of their own accord and she groaned into his mouth. The things the man could do with his tongue. The single chaste kiss they had shared in her courtyard in Atlantis was nothing compared to this. Hormones sparked and surged, sparks flew, clothes were thrown. He picked her up and set her on the back of the couch, his mouth not leaving hers. She decided, very quickly, she was addicted to this, addicted to him.

"Ash, could we do this on a bed please?" she gasped.

He merely grunted, picking her up as she told him that her bedroom was up the stairs, the first door on the left.

They collapsed into the plush blankets, and Livi hoped that he didn't leave a mark on her neck.

It was all wonderful, until a certain someone popped into the room.

"What the hell are you doing?" Artemas screeched, as Ash pulled the sheets up to cover them as quickly as possible.

"What does it look like, cousin?" Livi asked, more than a little miffed.

"Your-your trying to-to-- sleep with--"

"The man I love? Yes that's correct. Now if you wouldn't mind...GET THE HELL OFF OF MY ISLAND!!!!!!"

"Now, Arti." Ash comannded.

She shrieked again, "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT LOVE IS!!!"

"LEAVE!"

She did, grudgingly. And Livi got up a sheet wrapped around her. "I need a shower."

Acheron looked after Livi in amazement. Had she really said that she loved him? Had he been dreaming? Had she really just left him here wanting her?

"_Shiiiit_!" he hissed, letting his head fall back onto the pillow.

He was going to make sure Artemas died a very slow very painful death.

It wasn't long before sleep found him. As it drug him under he could almost hear sob from the direction of the bathroom. His dreams were filled with Livi, he could smell her feel her, almost taste her. And when he woke all alone, he was disappointed. Until he rolled over. The spot next to him was still warm from another body. She had come back during the night and not forced him to wake up and please her. The more time he spent with her the less since she made.

And the more he liked her.

"Livi?" he mumbled still half-asleep as he stumbled into the kitchen in his boxers.

"Oh, hey sleepy head."

"Are you always nocturnal?" he wondered, knowing full well she had the choice between night and day.

"Most of the people I know are, and that's when they're online. Here, I made eggs and bacon."

As she served him a plate he studied her. She had her hair down and it was still jostled by sleep. She had commandeered his shirt and the very bottom of her simple cotton underwear were visible. The arm-holes where much to wide on her thin frame and he could see all the way inside to her equally simple white bra. She wasn't exactly dressed to impress but it caused a feeling, warm and happy, to take up residence in the place his heart had once been.

It was an oddly intimate moment meant to be shared by two people who loved each other very much. And he got to experience it thanks to a beautiful insane woman who made no sense at all.

She turned to put the pan in the sink, having already eaten, and he stood, stepping forward to wrap his arms around her waist and nibbling her ear. He had half expected her to push him away, but she settled her hands against his forearms and leaned back into him, sighing happily. He wasn't being sexual, and she knew it, just resting and smiling in his arms. She leaned her head back to gaze at him, her sapphire eyes sparkling in a way they hadn't before last night.

"You make absolutely no sense to me, Livia Kaynen." he muttered, smiling slightly.

"If I did, I would be boring." she giggled.

"True." he laughed, then sobering, "I don't know why you do the things you do, but I like what you've done for me so far. Thank you. So much."

Her smile brightened. "As I told our unwanted guest last night, I love you. As you might not remember the time we spent together, I don't expect you to dive right in and return the feeling."

"Well, your right." he allowed, nuzzling her forehead, "But, I remember a little. And so far... I do like you. very, very much."

The thunder rolled outside, and this time Ash heard it. He looked to Livi for an explaination.

"Eros said that Artemas and Apollo were planning something. I....I want to say I'm not scared. But I am."

As another roll of thunder sounded. Ash tightened his arms around his new found love.

"There's nothing to worry about." he growled,"They can't have you."


End file.
